Sisters falls under 'Twilight' spell

At the Sisters Library the waiting list has grown to over 100; the movie version is almost always sold out at theaters across the nation, including Sisters Movie House, and it has even sported its own brand of chocolate. What could possibly be so big?

"Twilight."

What started in 2005 as a novel by Stephanie Meyer, has become this season's Big Movie, outperforming "Titanic's" opening weekend and even gave James Bond's new movie a black eye.

In case you have been living on the moon, here are the basics: Twilight documents the story of Bella, a girl who falls in love with vampire Edward. The story takes place in the rain forests of the Northwest.

The Nugget talked to some "Twilighters" (as they're known) to see their take on why "Twilight" is such a phenomenom. Some have read one or all the books, some have just seen the film.

"Because it's a love story?" said Taylor Tucker, a tad unsure. Though many seemed to feel passionate about the story, not many were able to say exactly why.

Nancy Gammond-Moody, 47, stated, "I enjoy 'Twilight' because it's very entertaining and I find the comparison between humans and vampires to racism very interesting." Piper Thompson, a younger fan, told The Nugget she enjoyed the books because, "They're unique, and captivating."

Melanie Farley, 11, reports that while she's always liked vampire movies, "This was so enjoyable and unique. It's new, not the same old vampire stuff."

"Well," said seventh grader Aeron Dow, "Twilight's just amazing!"

"You'd expect to see vampires in coffins and scary places, but they're different, they're outside and in the forest and in the Pacific Northwest and that's cool!" said Laurel Earhart.

When asked if the movie lived up to the book, Brenna Weems gave a simple resounding, "Yes!" One fan noted, "It was cool that so much of the book was in the movie, I mean it was 497 pages long!" Ms. Gammond-Moody said after the film that, "It captured the essensce of the book, but I'll always love reading more."

On Saturday, November 29, some lucky fans were treated to a sold-out showing of the film at Sisters Movie House, followed by a Q&A session with the movie's director, Catherine Hardwicke.

Hardwicke was good-hearted and comical answering every question flung at her. A younger fan asked, "Why was Edward wearing sunglasses?"

The answer: "He showed up on set that way one day and we just deided to leave it in because they looked so good on him!"

Older fans asked questions such as, " What was the hardest part of filming?"

"Weather, budget and some actors' insecurities," Hardwick responded.

After the session was over, Lisa Clausen stated that, "It is an amazing gift that we could have someone of Catherine's talent and generosity come to Sisters."

The Oregon Film Alliance hosted it's first-ever event in Sisters this past Saturday: "A Conversation with Director Catherine Hardwicke."

Hardwicke is the director of the box-office smash "Twilight." She visited Sisters last weekend to share Thanksgiving with relatives and she hosted a special screening of her movie at Sisters Movie House on Saturday night.

The invitation-only film alliance event on Saturday afternoon also featured Co-Producer Jamie Marshall and Casting Director Deborah Aquila.

Sisters Movie House owner, Lisa Clausen, thanked not only Catherine and the Alliance but the Sisters Art community as well for making the event possible.

"You try to put something like this together and everybody just opens their arms," she said. "Artists and merchants donated a gift bucket and Kathy Deggendorffer threw open the Art Works building to host the discussion. What a great community!"

Members of the Hardwicke family listened in on the conversation along with the Alliance members, invited audience and a few members of the press.

Discussion host Patricia West-Del Ruth congratulated Hardwicke on being the highest grossing female director of all time as "Twilight" grossed $70 million in its opening weekend.

Hardwicke hopes that her success will open the doors to more women directors and is proud of being able to be a role model. Asked how this new level of fame has affected her, she said,"Well, maybe people treat me a little nicer now!"

Hardwicke shared details of the shoot, but perhaps even more interesting was how she chased the project down.

She said the book had gotten under her skin so she drew dozens of storyboards and illustrations and presented them to Summit Films - and she landed the project.

The audience was also surprised to learn that Hardwicke was originally an architect. Asked why and how she shifted to films, she said, "People want their house to look like other peoples' houses and I thought the film industry would be more open to creativity...it isn't, but that's what I thought."